Evaluation - How long did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Final Product - Way Back Then

Ancillary Task - Magazine Review

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Ancillary Task - Layout of Film Review

After doing some research and looking at existing film reviews from 'Total Film' magazine and examples of last year's students' ancillary tasks we were able to see what worked well and which ideas we could incorporate to our own film review.

We decided that this layout could be effective. It is a two page spread therefore allowing for a greater focus and analysis of the film.

Ancillary Task - Example of Film Posters

We decided before finally making our final film poster to find examples of a few film posters with a similar genre or theme, primarily that of Romance.

Editing Diary

In the first week of filming we managed to shoot two seperate scenes for the film and edit them.

On Wednesday 10th November we shot the footage we needed for the 'meeting' scene at Costa coffee shop We took our own advice that we developed last year, which was to shoot longer footage than we would need in order to have a more broad selection to use when it came to editing, and we found this worked in our favour. We wanted to make sure that, when it came to editing, we could find a balance between not cutting each shot too short so it gave a fast paced effect but instead a calmer one to suit and enhance the romantic theme, as well as not letting them drag on so the film lost the audience's interest. We also made an immediate decision to use fades as the transactions between each scene in order to support the idea that the images were the thoughts of the main protagonist, Renaud, as he reflects on the past.

We next filmed at Renaud's House to shoot the illness scene. Originally, the shot of Renaud entering the room was going to cut straight to Charli in the bed, however when editing we found we had two shots that went well but the start of one and end of one were the best. We then made the decision to cut it into two seperate shots so we eventually had the sequence of Renaud entering the room and looking ahead at her, then a shot of Charli in the bed, and then Renaud looking down sadly before we seem him walking over to her from behind and felt the results were much more effective. Then was the argument scene which consisted of four over the shoulder shots for each piece of dialogue. However when editing we decided that each of the shots were very quick because the lines were short and sharp. In order to resolve this we decided to edit the exchange so that Renaud would say his line and the camera stayed on him as Charli began her line and so on. This was a very careful process as it involved matching the exact syllable of the words so that they matched the next shot exactly but we were very pleased with the result of this.

The next scene to edit was of the couple at South Wield  which we had collected a lot of footage for which we felt was a good decision as we could condense it down to the parts which were the best. We also had some trouble with the wind and as the tripod was being balanced on uneven ground for most of the shots there were some shakes which we were able to easily cut out. We also filmed a kissing scene here which had to be edited effectively so that it was believable and realistic. In order to do this we filmed the entire sequence from Renaud's dialogue "I like it here" to the couple looking back out to the lake as a long shot and close up so we had flexibilty when it came to editing. Our final decision was to use the start and finish of the sequence as long shots and the middle as a close up, we felt this was effective but had to be careful in matching up exactly how close the couple were to eachother when we cut to a different shot. However, because of this we had trouble with hearing Renaud's dialogue from further away and had to edit the sound so that the clip was louder when he spoke and then went silent again so the focus was on the romantic music and any blowing wind caught on tape could be removed.

Whilst editing the scenes filmed at Shoeburyness of the couple on the beach we were happy with our shots as they were scenic and romantic as we had hoped, it was for this reason that we wanted to use longer footage for each shot to create a very calm atmosphere for the audience. We felt that this would help us to achieve our aim of inviting the audience to relate to the couple as it would add to the characters' iscolation from the rest of the world, and also making their relationship seem more sincere and believable which was important to us. On the day we decided to shoot a variety of shots so that we could choose which were best to use, however when it came to editing the footage we found that all of the shots could be used and compliment eachother. For example we were able to develop a sequence from a shot the couple walking over to a rock, a close up/low angle shot of them sitting on it, and then a shot of them from behind which we assumed would be used instead of the previous could be used as Renaud leans in to kiss her on the cheek in both and enables us to link the two.

We then shot Renaud in a graveyard at St Mary's church. We decided to shoot him opening and closing his eyes (which would be used to seperate his memories) as one sequence and we then cut the parts we wanted and used them throughout. When editing the sequence of Renaud at Brentwood Train Station we had to deal with a mistake that was made on the day. As the train was coming towards the platform Renaud took a step back into the frame by accident and we thought we were going to have to reshoot the shot, however when editing we realised that we could cut the shot before he stepped backwards because it was possibly better to not wait for the train to come past the camera as the shot would be too long and take away the intensity that we were hoping to achieve for the cliffhanger of whether he did jump in front of the train or not. We therefore used a fade to cut to the titles and were happy with the results.

Story Boards

Brief Sypnosis Pitch

As a group, we have all played an equal role in putting forward ideas and discussing what we feel would or wouldn't work for a successful short film. After much deliberation in and outside of lessons, we decided on a theme, storyline and the characters we want to use.
We decided that our film would fit into the genre of a 'romantic tragedy'. It will entirely consist of the story of a young couple, how they meet, how they fall in love, and how an illness could largely effect their relationship. We plan to portray each of these things through the use of different camera techniques, such as including wide shots of the couple looking alone in a wide, scenic setting to depict their iscolation from the rest of the world, and hopefully making the audience feel as though they are involved in the couple's relationship, and becoming more emotionally attached. We all agreed that drawing this reaction from the audience is the most important thing to achieve from our short film in order for it to be a success.

The film will begin with a shot of the main protagonist, a man who is in a graveyard, reflecting on the time that he met his partner. He will be flicking through a photo album of pictures of the two of them at romantic places such as a beach and next to a lake, which will then fade to a scene of the couple when that picture was taken. However, the troubles in their relationship will then be portrayed, with the impression that the scenes are from his reflective memory, through arguments and scenes of the girl ill in bed. This sudden downfall in the theme, from love to anger, will then turn to sadness as we see the man back in the graveyard next to her gravestone, and then wandering empty streets to highlight his loneliness now she has gone. We hope that this will create deep emotive reactions from the audience as they will sympathise with him after watching the relationship blossom. The film will end with a cliff hanger, as the final shots show the man at a train station, standing close to the platform, and as the train comes the audience are left with the unresolved enigma of whether he jumped or not. We feel that the use of a cliffhanger will be effective as it will stay in the audience's mind, and they will hopefully comtemplate their own perception of the ending after the film has ended.

In terms of our characters, we have based them on 'Summer' played by Zooey Deschanel and 'Tom' played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the film '500 Days of Summer' as we felt they were extremely effective in terms of the audience's abilty to relate to and like them. We have therefore taken this inspiration and applied it, particularly with the appearance and costumes of our own characters as this is also an aspect that we believed enhanced the overall production. The reason for this choice is that, in detailed discussion, we agreed that we wanted characters that weren't completely average and were slightly strange as this would make our short film have a unique and interesting edge to it.

Mood Board

We devised a mood board from a collection of images which we feel summarize the main themes and moods of our short film.

Half of the board portrays our couple's relationship, including screen shots from the film '500 Days of Summer' from which we drew inspiration from the characters, Tom Hansen and Summer Finn played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. The images show them to be in love and happy to be in eachothers' company which is what we would like our actors, Molly and Renaud, to achieve.

We also included other images which we found that represent some of the scenes that we want to feauture, for example a couple having a picnic and a couple at a beach, we have story boarded scenes of Molly and Renaud at these locations.

Also on this side of the board, we used images of South Weald Country Park as this is one of the actual locations we will be using to film some shots due to it's scenic appearance. The large, open fields will contribute to our portrayal of the couples' clear iscolation from the rest of the world, giving the impression that all they need is one another to make the audience focus on and understand their relationship.

We also included some pictures that represent the locations and shots that want to use. For example, the coffee cup represents the shots that we will take in a coffee shop which is where the couple will first meet. We also used the image of a couple's photobooth pictures, as this was an idea we had to create with our own actors to show a 'fun' side to their relationship.

However, the other side of the moodboard contrasts as it portrays the more sad, lonely theme that is present in the last part of the film. This is because the audience discover that the female character has passed away. We aim to use a zoom outwards from a close up of Renaud to show that he has been sitting in a graveyard throughout the film, and a gravestone (which is featured on the board) in front of him will show the audience that it must be her's.

We have also story boarded Renaud to be walking through empty streets to portray his loneliness, and therefore pictures of empty streets and bridges that we aim to replicate are included, they also depict the foggy, dim lighting that we aim to achieve as a form of pathetic fallacy.

There is also an image of an extreme close up on the board because we have planned to shoot a couple of these as a way of portraying Renaud's emotions, as well as the intensity of them.

Also featured are images of a train platform, this is because we aim to shoot Renaud standing alone on one through the use of a long shot to reinforce his loneliness again. The image of a moving train also shows what we hope to achieve on camera as the final shot before the screen fades to black, as a cliff hanger for the audience.

Questionnaire

We decided as a group to come up with a questionnaire in order to gain a greater understanding of how short films are perceived outside of media students. Short films aren’t watched by the majority of the general public so this questionnaire will help decide what a general audience’s view is to making a successful short film. By understanding what the general audience want from a short film we can make our short film more accessible and interesting for the casual viewer.

Textual Analysis - About A Girl

About A Girl

Directed by Brian Percival (2001)

8:30 minutes

The film begins with the opening shot of a girl dancing and singing to Britney Spears' song 'Stronger'. In terms of cinematography, a wide shot is used in order to include the prominent cloudy sky in the background. The fact that it fills most of the shot space draws the audience's attention to the weather as a possible form of pathetic fallacy, this dull and dreary setting may suggest that this is a representation of this girl's life, or a way of foreshadowing dark scenes that are yet to come in the film. The girl is also positioned at the right side of the screen, the fact that she is not in the middle enhances the impression that she is alone and isolated. The sound is also used to support this cinematography, as the girl is singing song lyrics such as 'I've had enough' and 'I'm stronger than yesterday, now it's nothing but my way, my loneliness ain't killing me no more.' This reinforces her impression of isolation, but also introduces the symbolic structure of hopefulness that occurs throughout the film. As this is the first shot, this could be used as an enigma for the audience, to make them wonder why she is hopeful and why she has had enough, before her life is revealed.

As the camera cuts to the next shot, the editing becomes very fast paced as a sequence of cuts to different, short clips of dialogue from the same girl are shown. In terms of the mise en scene of this scene, the girl's costume portrays her to be a white, low class, young teenager. She has gold hoop earrings and a white puffa jacket which is slightly dirty, the fact that this item of clothing is out of fashion also highlights that she is not very wealthy and is from a working class background. However it was a clever choice of costume as it makes her story believable that she had been pregnant and able to hide it under that jacket, although ironically the colour white is often a symbol of innocence, so the fact that this is faded and dirty also compliments the fact that this may be representitive of the actual truth.

As the girl continues to deliver her monologue whilst walking, the audience are able to view the setting in which she lives. There are shots of railings, which have connotations of inprisonment with the metal bars which may suggest that the area she lives in is unpleasant - this is supported by her dialogue, for example 'When I'm dead rich and famous and people want my autograph, and living in a top flat in London, and your still here eating your burgers and your knock off lager.' There are also unsightly buildings and graffiti in the background which add to this low class, unpleasant place to live.

The girl is talking about her family issues and seems to dislike her mother and idolise her father. However following shots of, for example, her mother frantically scratching a scratch card whilst the girl has her back to her suggests that she is unaware of her mother's struggle and hopes to become wealthier and provide a better life after she has said 'She never lets us have nothing... but she's always got enough for ciggies, does she think I'm soft or what?'. Whereas her father, who she describes to 'always want to know what I'm up to', doesn't seem to have any interest in his daughter which is depicted through the use of shots of him in a cafe with the girl, reading his paper and ignoring her completely. Similarly, she says 'He takes me to the pub and gets me a coke and a bag of crisps', which would make the audience assume that they spend time together and he treats her, however the reality is very different as, through the use of cinematography and mise en scene, it can be seen that she has been left outside on a bench next to a run down pub in cold weather, whilst sounds of men laughing inside show us that he neglects his daughter and is more interested in having a good time with friends. The camera pans out slowly to reveal her iscolation and loneliness, and we see this shot for over 15 seconds so it has a lasting effect on the audience as they become very sympathetic towards her.

The next shots continue to portray the girl's desperation for a better life of fame and fortune as she talks about forming a band with her friends. Mid shots of the girls on a bus clearly show her happiness in the presence of them, singing and dancing, and they are obviously the only people that can relate to her. This is also the first and only time we see the girl without the white coat on which suggests that she can be open and honest with them and be her true self.

Throughout the short film we have consistently seen the girl walking alongside a canal in the background and towards the end there are more obvious images of her sitting above it, seeing the vast amounts of rubbish. This could be seen to foreshadow the twist of the ending, when she throws her baby into this canal which tells the audience that she only considers it as rubbish as well which is a very contraversial and upsetting idea for the audience to be faced with, which makes it very effective. As she does throw the baby in the plastic bag into the water, the effect is increased by silence for the first time in the film, she is not singing or energetically delivering her monologue. This pause is therefore extremely effective. She then turns away and a very high angle of the girl walking away from the canal leaves the audience with the lasting impression that she is still vulnerable, even after her disturbing actions, and a feeling of sympathy for the girl may still exist.

Planning Diary

Week 1


Leading up to week 1 of our blog posts we had been briefed about what our year 13 coursework would consist of and were being introduced to short films through viewing them in class. We were already making notes on the films and discussing what we thought to be successful or not. When the week beginning 28th September arrived, we used the first week to complete our evaluation of our AS Coursework, this consisted of three blog posts. 


Week 2


In week 2 we used our time to look into short films, posting blogs on 'The Definition of a Short Film', 'Codes and Conventions of a Short Film', 'SWOT', 'Demographics and Psychographics' and even researching the rating system from the 'BBFC'. All of these blogs helped us to prepare our coursework as soon as possible as we had learnt the importance of time management from the previous year.


Week 3


Week 3 was a week of research. Most of the group completed textual analysis' of existing short films so that that the majority of the group had a detailed understanding of the features and successes of a short film. We chose to analyse 'About a Girl' which was dramatic with a serious tone throughout, 'Terry Tate: Office Linebacker' which contantly upheld a comedic genre and 'Owl Creek' which was thrilling. We made these choices as the three films had contrasting genres, themes and audience responses and we felt that this was a good decision due to the fact that we had not yet decided what our short film would contain yet and therefore the analysis' would pay off as valuable research.
Also in terms of the research we carried out in this week, we looked at some of the institutions which may produce short films and therefore which would be most suited to the one we were to make. We also, as a group, devised a questionairre about what people expect from a short film. After posting a blog of the results we collected we were able to draw positive conclusions about what would make our film as effective as possible, which we took through to week 4 to begin our brainstorming.

Week 4

By week 4 we had collected a good amount of research and were able to begin coming up with ideas for our short film. We therefore posted blogs containing our 'Initial Ideas' and created a 'Mood Board' of the ideas, locations and themes that we had come up with. We decided on the genre 'romantic tragedy', of which we posted the 'Codes and Conventions' for and we were also able to decide who our target audience would be and recorded this on the blog too. We also wrote about our 'Inspirations and Influences' which had impacted our decisions for the film.

Week 5

At week 5 we had made some decisions about the genre and storyline we would be using and could move on. The things we decided this week were written on the blog 'Casting Decisions' where we described the reasons why we chose Charli and Renaud to play the lead characters, and 'Settings and Locations' when we had carried out some research into good places for us to shoot. We were then in a position to write our 'Brief/Sypnosis/Pitch' which described what and why we had made the decisions for the short film that we had. We also posted a blog about the ways in which we would use cinematography effectively to help make our film a success.

Week 6

In week 6 we were able to draw up our storyboards and write a script as a guide for when we were ready to start te filming process. We therefore also devised a shooting schedule and filled out a 'Risk Assessment' so that all of these blogs would be useful preparation for the following week. As we had become aware that week 7 would consist of both filming and editing, we felt it was wise to plan when and what we would edit.

Week 7

Week 7 was our first week of filming. We went to the Costa coffee shop to film the first scenes of the film in which the two main characters meet and their relationship begins. As we had fully prepared the shots that we wanted by creating the storyboards, the process went smoothly and we had achieved some mid shots of both characters by the end. By the following day the shots we had taken had been edited and we were ready to carry out the second day of shooting after school. We went to Renaud (our actor)'s house to shoot two seperate scenes. As we had not seen the whole house in detail before that day we had to make some decisions when we arrived (for example, which bed to use for the scene portraying the girl's illness). However this didn't take too long as we were very pleased with the setting and felt it was appropriate to what we hoped to achieve. We therefore shot the sequences of Renaud walking into the bedroom and sitting with her on the bed, as well as the scene where the two characters argue, for which we took over the shoulder shots. We also posted blogs about how the day went and carried out some further preparation for later on by researching what type of music has typically been used for films of a romantic genre so that we were able draw inspiration and guidance for our own.

Week 8

On 16th November we travelled to South Weild to shoot some romantic shots of the couple. We aimed to achieve some wide shots and therefore decided to shoot the pair walking hand in hand across a field, sitting on a bench together with a landscape view ahead and standing by a lake. We also had to shoot a scene involving a kiss and a couple of words of dialogue. On 19th November we went a beach in Shoeburyness to shoot more scenic shots of the couple, we shot them walking down the beach hand in hand, skipping stones together, and sitting on a rock from two angles. We then used the rest of the week to post diaries of the two days and edit the footage we had.

Week 9

There was still more filming to be done at week 9 which we carried out in 3 seperate locations. On 25th November we went to St Mary's Church in Shenfield to film Renaud at the graveyard, here we shot him flicking through photographs and extreme close ups, as well as a reverse pan to reveal the setting he is in. We then went to a street named Rose Valley in Brentwood to film Renaud walking down it. From here, we went to Brentwood Train Station to film him standing on the platform and the train coming. We then made another diary of the day shooting and edited the footage by the end of the week.

Weeks 10 & 11 

We used weeks 10 and 11 to complete an diary to describe when, what and why we edited all of the footage we had. We also moved on to completing the ancillary tasks in a joint effort as we completed a magazine review and poster for the film and posted research and the final products over different blogs.

Week 12 onwards

From 17th December we designated the different evaluation questions between the whole group and used our last weeks to complete them.